Arsenal Players Rated & Slated In 3-2 Win vs Watford

Arsenal finished eighth in the 2019-20 Premier League table following their intriguing 3-2 win over Watford yesterday at the Emirates Stadium.

Although the Gunners had a three-goal cushion at one stage, the Hornets made a stupendous comeback to reduce the deficit to one goal by scoring twice on either side of the break.

Mikel Arteta’s men, however, defended well in the final twenty minutes of the game to defeat Hayden Mullins’ side who have now been relegated to the Championship.

Here are our Arsenal player ratings from what transpired in their last league outing.

Emiliano Martinez 8/10

The custodian was incredible in goal as he made 4 vital saves ending the season on a high. His quick reaction while denying Danny Welbeck’s backheel from finding the back of the net was impeccable and he deserves all the applause he is getting after being thrust into action in the last couple of weeks.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles 6/10

Maitland-Niles was solid defensively but struggled to get forward to support the attackers for a major portion of the fixture.

Rob Holding 5/10

The central defender was shaky at the back and was terrorized by Troy Deeney but he did make a crucial block to nullify a goal-bound strike by the Watford striker in the first half.

David Luiz 5/10

Luiz committed a foul on Welbeck inside the box which handed a penalty to the visitors. Besides, he was also caught out of position for the former Arsenal attacker’s goal and had a number of nervy moments on the pitch.

Kieran Tierney 8/10

He settled himself nicely and engineered a goal after the ball deflected off Will Hughes, followed by a lethal throw-in which was converted by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The left-back made 2 tackles and kept Ismaila Sarr in check on most of the occasions.

Granit Xhaka 6/10

With a pass success rate of 92%, Xhaka distributed the ball with precision as usual and tracked back time and again to shield the backline. However, he lost his cool every now and then, which is something he has to seriously work on.

Dani Ceballos 7/10

The Spaniard made his presence felt with his exquisite movement with the ball and showcased great composure whenever he was summoned to make defensive contributions.

Joe Willock 5/10

Willock hardly saw the ball in the first half and despite getting into really nice positions, he just could not produce the final product, which led to his substitution early in the second half.

Nicolas Pepe 6/10

Despite little support from Maitland-Niles, Pepe was easily one of the liveliest players for the home side in the first period. He caused Adam Masina all sorts of trouble early on but seemed to lack energy after the interval.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 8/10

It was an inspiring performance by the Arsenal skipper who converted from the spot early in the game and then came up with a sensational overhead kick to beat Ben Foster. Moreover, he linked up with Tierney meticulously and also catered to his defensive obligations.

Alexandre Lacazette 6/10

The Frenchman won the penalty for the north London based outfit and was involved in most of his side’s attacking exploits.

Substitutes 

Eddie Nketiah 7/10

The striker injected energy into Arsenal’s tiring offensive set up and set up a chance for Aubameyang, although the Gabon international failed to capitalize on it.

Sead Kolasinac 6/10

Kolasinac found it difficult to close in on Watford’s attackers and was beaten for pace by Tom Cleverley, Deeney and Welbeck.

Lucas Torreira 5/10

The midfielder gave away a silly foul just outside the box and was clearly bereft of confidence.

Reiss Nelson 5/10

Nelson carved a good run till the edge of the box but apart from that, he was kept quiet by the Watford defenders.

Statistics Credits: WhoScored